Support & Services

If you are parenting a bright but disorganized student, you may feel frustrated by this obstacle between your student’s potential and actual achievement. If you yourself are disorganized, you may even feel hopeless. But no matter what their age, there is no reason to feel stuck. As organizing expert Donna Goldberg reminds: “If you and your child invest the time it takes to organize supplies, homework and a study schedule, you can create the structure that he needs to succeed.”

Hey, mom… just so you know, I’ve got a test on Friday I’m gonna fail.” My sixth-grader has barely stepped through the front door when he utters this. He is an excellent student so my head is spinning. “What do you mean fail? You’ve got three more days to study?” But he is already grinding his perfectly straight teeth, scowling as he announces, “I can’t do it.” Still calm, I unsuccessfully try to appeal to his reason. Within seconds, I am shouting, “Then I guess you’ll be grounded for a month!” Sound familiar?

There are many students who put off work until the last minute. Although their reasons vary, one thing is for sure - procrastinators underestimate the time it will take to complete their work and overestimate how much time is available to do it. When procrastination impacts academics, students need parental intervention in order to change the behaviors that are limiting their success.